Weekend
Getaways from Le Tréport

London is a magnificent melting pot and an exemplary showcase art, culture and beautiful urban spaces - both contemporary and historical. England’s largest city is home to some of the world’s most magnetic Gothic architecture, and a prolific arts and theatre culture.
A few must visit places in London city are the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge. Head to the Buckingham Palace and catch the changing of the Guard at 11:30am from May until the end of July. Tourists can view the Crown Jewels, and also take a mandatory picture with a guard. Most of London’s museums have free entry, so take it all in from Tate Modern to the City Museum to the National Gallery and the Historical Museum. Make a stop at the Westminster Abbey and revel in the bustling Trafalgar Square that is the heart of London. For something more intimate, take a walk down to the Borough Market that has probably the best food and produce in London. Grab yourself a Cornish pasty or a plateful of the signature fish and chips before you leave London city.
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London is a magnificent melting pot and an exemplary showcase art, culture and beautiful urban spaces - both contemporary and historical. England’s largest city is home to some of the world’s most magnetic Gothic architecture, and a prolific arts and theatre culture.
A few must visit places in London city are the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge. Head to the Buckingham Palace and catch the changing of the Guard at 11:30am from May until the end of July. Tourists can view the Crown Jewels, and also take a mandatory picture with a guard. Most of London’s museums have free entry, so take it all in from Tate Modern to the City Museum to the National Gallery and the Historical Museum. Make a stop at the Westminster Abbey and revel in the bustling Trafalgar Square that is the heart of London. For something more intimate, take a walk down to the Borough Market that has probably the best food and produce in London. Grab yourself a Cornish pasty or a plateful of the signature fish and chips before you leave London city.

London is the capital of England and one of the top ten tourist destinations of the world. From history and culture to fine food and good times, this city has something for everyone! And guess what, you can now visit it on a transit visa if you have a long layover! You will require a Visitor-in-Transit visa and you can know all about it here.

2. England- The London Tube: There are a lot of things you can love about England, but nothing is more enchanting than having time to spare and watching the London tube at rush hour. From the unwritten rules of staying to the left on escalators to the packed like sardines carriages, the tube can give you new found respect for space. The tube stands for everything ‘London’. Add the fact that they scaled new heights in design whilst creating the new tube map.

The utter failure of his medical practice gave Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, plenty of time to write about a consulting detective who solves crimes by applying deduction and logic. It is believed that Sir Arthur was inspired by Dr Joseph Bell, one of his tutors from medical school in Edinburgh, while creating the character. Dr Bell’s great grandfather— Benjamin Bell was credited with the invention of the science of deduction. In the early drafts of A Study of Scarlet, which was initially called A Tangled Skein, Sir Arthur described ‘Sherringford Holmes’ as someone who works in a chemical laboratory and collects rare violins.However, he didn’t want Holmes to be the narrator of the story, so he created Ormond Sacker, who had seen military service in Sudan. In the story that finally got published in Beeton’s Christmas Annual in August 1887, Sir Arthur changed Sacker to Dr John Watson, an invalid military doctor who was shot in the shoulder in Afghanistan. Since then, the duo has gone to enjoy stellar careers in books, on stage, in film, and on television.

LEAVESDENDrink a glass of Butter Beer Actually, everything at the Warner Brother’s Studio for Harry Potter in Leavesden, can bring out the glee-ful child in you. From real Butter Beer, to walking through Diagon Alley, to exploring Snape’s table of potions. It’s truly magical ! wbstudiotour.co.uk

The best way to get around England would be to book your stay in its magnificent capital city, London. Of course, your stay here might be slightly more expensive than in other places, which aren’t so main stream. But you will certainly appreciate the ease with which you will find frequent transportation to all other parts of the country.

Download a London underground map from the internet and carry a print out with you for your comfort. We reach the station and at the station ask for the Oyster card, it's basically a prepaid card which is used for travelling in London underground trains. Just fill the card with a certain amount of money and flash it at the entry/exit in all stations. The money will get deducted from your card depending on the distance travelled by you.You can also use this card to travel in buses in and within London. We filled the card for 20 pounds each. This saves you the time and also money of buying tickets, every time you travel in train or bus. Do not take the taxis, unless you have lot of money to spend, as taxi travel is quiet expensive especially when you are holidaying on a shoe string budget.

London: Highly commercial but very safe and comfortable for solo travelers, London has attractions of all kinds – Wimbledon, Lords, Wembley stadium for sports aficionados, British Library and Shakespeare Globe Centre for literature fanatics, London Eye, Buckingham Place, Big Ben, London Bridge and many other buildings for heritage admirers, Southall for authentic Indian food lovers, Harrods and Oxford Street for fashionistas, Design Museum and art galleries for art devotees among others. You name it and London has it. Also known as the birthplace of the Metro or London Tube as they call it, Public transport here is impeccable. Climate is slightly grey and cold but the warmth of people will melt your heart. Huge Indian diaspora presence makes you feel at home. Global cuisine restaurants and cafes are everywhere. Only thing that makes it slightly unattractive is the cost on your wallet.

4 full days wandering about London and man, it’s not enough, not enough. Most of the time we were scampering from one point to the next. Even then, we had not seen it all, had not seen enough, watched enough nor tasted enough.

I was going for a packaged tour to Europe, covering 9 cities in a short span of 15 days. But luckily, my family decided to leave for UK 3 days earlier than the trip started and we stayed at a friend of my dad's. And that's what I'm going to talk about in my little article here. London, not through a bus the tour took me in, but through my own eyes, the way I liked it and the way I believe it should be traveled.The journey began when we reached UK around noon. We reached home, had lunch and spent some time resting to give the jet lag a break. Evening crept and we left with my uncle. We walked towards harrow street. It was a beautiful way surrounded by greenery and the prettiest houses ever. Not even half an hour around that area and I was already telling my mom that I wanted to settle back here someday when I grow old. That's the magic of that place. British houses can make you fall in love instantly. You can walk for hours and not get tired, that's how beautiful and soothing the weather is. It doesn't get dark till 8pm or 9pm there. It even goes onto 10pm at times.

Paris is magnetic, plastered across the vision boards of dreamy-eyed, budding travellers around the world. Start with a visit to the Notre Dame Cathedral for an understanding of Paris’s multilayered history. When you visit the city’s major attraction, the Eiffel tower, try reserving tickets ahead of time, to skip the long queues. Although there are many, many such things and attractions you must visit in Paris, don’t miss out on a leisurely walk under the shaded trails by the Seine, or unwind at the lush promenades of Jardin des Tuileries. Attend a poetry reading in an old bookshop and enjoy the illustrious cabaret of The Crazy Horse.
This glittering city of light is all about understated, yet glamorised experiences - wandering the Parisian streets, walking the avenues and bridges, listening to the hum flowing out of bistros and bars; musicians in the metro and that particular scent of old, used books at the Shakespeare and Co. Paris is also a shopaholic’s Mecca, with a number of high-end shops and hidden flea markets. For those led by their stomachs, don’t leave Paris without getting your hands on their baguettes and macarons. And of course, many many glasses of wine.Read More

Paris is magnetic, plastered across the vision boards of dreamy-eyed, budding travellers around the world. Start with a visit to the Notre Dame Cathedral for an understanding of Paris’s multilayered history. When you visit the city’s major attraction, the Eiffel tower, try reserving tickets ahead of time, to skip the long queues. Although there are many, many such things and attractions you must visit in Paris, don’t miss out on a leisurely walk under the shaded trails by the Seine, or unwind at the lush promenades of Jardin des Tuileries. Attend a poetry reading in an old bookshop and enjoy the illustrious cabaret of The Crazy Horse.
This glittering city of light is all about understated, yet glamorised experiences - wandering the Parisian streets, walking the avenues and bridges, listening to the hum flowing out of bistros and bars; musicians in the metro and that particular scent of old, used books at the Shakespeare and Co. Paris is also a shopaholic’s Mecca, with a number of high-end shops and hidden flea markets. For those led by their stomachs, don’t leave Paris without getting your hands on their baguettes and macarons. And of course, many many glasses of wine.

We had our city tour planned for the next day. We were supposed to start with a river cruise of Seine, but due to flooding and rising levels of Seine, the cruise was closed down. However, if you're indeed going to Paris, this is a great way to take a tour of the whole city, with all the major museums included. Next we saw the Eiffel Tower and went up to the top floor of the monument. The view from the top is absolutely magnificent and will leave you mesmerised. The sheer architecture of the structure will amaze you beyond imagination.

After almost a five hour layover, we headed to Paris' Charles de Galle airport. It was raining heavily when we arrived. In fact, the city of Paris had seen floods just a few days ago. We took our luggage went to our hotel, Ibis Styles, which was near the hotel only. We checked into our cozy hotel rooms, freshened up, and were on our way to Champs-Élysées, one of the most famous, fun and happening avenues of Paris. We had to take 3 metro trains to get there. Champs-Élysées is to Paris what Times Square is to New York.

We had reserved the last day for shopping and eating around the city. We covered Luxemborg garders in the morning, followed by Centre Pompidou, Paris city centre and a visit to the Catacombs. Its better to book tickets to Catacomb in advance else you might get stuck in hour long lines.

The second day pretty much went around exploring Disneyland. We had booked our tickets online from 365tickets.com website. There is a separate train station for Disneyland and you can directly catch a train from your nearest station.

We took a bus near our BnB to the airport via Catlunya. It is astonishing that the Barca city was not asleep even at 5 am in the morning. We had booked our flight to Paris through Vueling. Contrary to our experience at Ryan Air, Vueling had amazing customer service and pleasant staff. We reached Paris Orly airport at 9 am, then headed to Gare Du Nord by taking the Orly train. The tickets to city cost 18 euros. We deposited our luggage at Gare Du Nord station lockers, and headed to Louvre Museum and Eiffel tower. We covered Pont Des Arts, Notre Dame, Champs De Elysees and Siene river cruise for the day.

Paris is another destination that is easily accessible from Swiss. It takes roughly 3 hrs by train from Basel. The Eiffel tower is a must visit by day and by night but be extra careful of your wallets as the place is a center of pick pockets. People will come to you for surveys but these are mostly tactful pick-pockets trying to distract you from your wallets. The Louvre museum is another place where one can go for a day-visit and still not see everything there. A walk through the streets of Champs-Élysées, a ride on the hop-on-hop-off bus and trying the amazing food are some of the activities that can keep you busy at Paris. If you do go to Paris, I would recommend not to miss a trip to Disney Land!

The city of love and arts & culture. You'd be lying if you say Paris is not on your bucket list of dream destinations. With iconic architectures, eclectic cuisines, trend-setting boutiques and artistic masterpieces almost everywhere, Paris is one of the most instantly recognisable cities in the world. Nothing has already been written about the French capital that you will find here; you'll be doing yourself and your partner a favour by going for a Parisian honeymoon.What a couple must do while here: Visit the Eiffel Tower and get yourself clicked in front of it. Cathedrale Notre Dame de Paris is an exotic gothic church and will be fascinating for both believers and non-believers.Recommended duration & average expenditure: 7 days will cost approximately Rs. 2 lakh.Paris is not as expensive as is usually perceived. You can book these Parisian hotels and decide for yourself. Read more on Paris here.

6. France- Paris 'the city of love' truly deserves that title. Although I've been to multiple similar cities in Europe what sets Paris apart is the art, culture and heritage of the city combined with the french language making it a delectable combination.

Brussels, capital of Belgium, is said to be the capital of Europe since it’s home to the European Parliament, European Council and European Commission.This old city has its own charm when it comes to attracting people. Belgian waffles, beer and chocolates oh and did I forget the Belgian fries? Definitely add it to the list. However I would say that Brussels is pretty famous for its Gothic structures and art in various form that makes another reason for this place to be experienced at least once.Read More

Brussels, capital of Belgium, is said to be the capital of Europe since it’s home to the European Parliament, European Council and European Commission.This old city has its own charm when it comes to attracting people. Belgian waffles, beer and chocolates oh and did I forget the Belgian fries? Definitely add it to the list. However I would say that Brussels is pretty famous for its Gothic structures and art in various form that makes another reason for this place to be experienced at least once.

We took an early morning bus (7am) from Paris to Brussels. We reached Brussels at around 10 am and proceeded to our AirBnB accommodation. We spent just one day at Brussels. We first visited Grand Palais and then walked around till Mannekin Pis statue. There is a Tin Tin Mural at a walking distance. There are awesome Belgian waffles and chocolate shops in the city center. We then took a tram till Atomium and then went to Palais de justice. The Royal gallery hosts great restaurants with reasonable rates.We ended the day with the dinner at the Royal gallery.

History: “Bos” is the Dutch word for forest and “Halle” is the place where it is located. With around 6 square kilometres area, Hallerbos is like one of that purple-blue kingdom coming straight out of a Disney movie film making you question its existence in reality! The uniqueness of Hallerbos lies in its natural phenomenon of blooming blue bells (wild hyacinths) that blossom everywhere in the forest between late April and May making it look like a blue carpet (check my video here).

6. Le Chatelain Boutique Hotel, BrusselsIf a city escape is on your mind, then a five-star in the heart of Brussels should top your list. Le Chatelain is just as fancy as it sounds. With boutique interiors and gourmet cuisine, this hotel knows how to make you feel special.Location: 17 Rue de Châtelain, Elsene / Ixelles, 1000 Brussels, Belgium Tariff: Rs 12,000 for an executive double room

We visited Brussels just for one day.From Amsterdam there are trains and buses to Brussels.If booked early we do have thalys trains which are faster and you get at low rates.Train tickets cost you something between 30-35 Euro one way.
If travelling by train just outside Main station you get Hop and hop off buses which has three routes you can choose any or all.They cost you around 23 Euro Per person.
Places to visit:
1) Atomium-It comprises nine 18 metre diameter steel spheres connected by tupes, all of which contain exhibits.It looks good from outside.Even surrounding area is pretty good.
2)Mini Europe--Timings are from 10 to 5:Last entry at 4:30.Its just behind the Atomium and lot of chances of you missing it as there are no big hording with its name.We missed it due that .
3)Grand-Place--As we know Brussels famous for their chocolates this square has lot of chocolate shops and Godiva is the famous one among it.You can taste different kind of chocolates.
4)Beer Tours-There are beer tour which takes you different bars from oldest one to the ones which came up recently.for beer tasting.They have fixed timings.So will suggest to book it prior you go there.
5)Chocolate Tours-There are couple of chocolate tour but my suggestion will be book it online before you visit Brussels as there if you ask locals they are not aware about it much and due to that we missed taking tour.
6)Manneken-Pis--I personally didn't find it interesting but its a famous tourist attractions on the tours.Its at such a place that you might not realize that you passed by the tourist attraction.
Also you will find the many waffles shops around the city and i tell you.You must try one you get lot of variety with hell lot of toppings over it.
My suggestion to whoever travelling on their should plan which all things you need to cover and cover them first and rest of the things if time permits you can go for it.Any walking tour you planning to take up book before hand don't keep it for last moment.It will be much organised.

After several visits in Brussels, I must confess: my trips don’t always involve shopping. I also like to widen my horizons and cultivate myself a bit. Even though Brussels is not a very big city, it has a major role in the European Union and a great history to discover. In general it is quite a young city with a lot going on in terms of exhibitions, art, culture, music… People are open minded, very nice and will make you feel very welcome. If you’re in the Belgian Capital for a short week-end, you should start by taking a walk in the historic centre and enjoy the architecture, the decor and Belgian atmosphere.

Since we had a comfortable overnight journey, today we were all fresh and ready to have an exciting day ahead. Today, we are supposed to go to Oxford city in south east of London. It is a 2 hour train journey from London and we reach Oxford by 10 am. There was a city bus tour here again, but since we had the entire day to spend in Oxford our preferred choice of exploring the place was by walking around. We took a map of the city from the train station and we labeled the route we had to take, it was a circular walk around the city.The buildings in Oxford demonstrate an example of every English architectural period and its known as the "city of dreaming spires", a term coined in reference to the harmonious architecture of Oxford's university buildings. The University of Oxford is the oldest university in the English speaking world. Our walk leads us through the heart of the historic city centre illustrating in itself the history of Oxford and its university and the map in our hand gave us the description of the architecture and traditions of its most famous buildings and institutions. Even though I was not a good student myself or much of a book reader, I felt it was a prolific day spent in Oxford, a city also prominent for its medieval university. Our day ended with some good coffee and we reached back home in London at around 8 in the evening.Read More

Since we had a comfortable overnight journey, today we were all fresh and ready to have an exciting day ahead. Today, we are supposed to go to Oxford city in south east of London. It is a 2 hour train journey from London and we reach Oxford by 10 am. There was a city bus tour here again, but since we had the entire day to spend in Oxford our preferred choice of exploring the place was by walking around. We took a map of the city from the train station and we labeled the route we had to take, it was a circular walk around the city.The buildings in Oxford demonstrate an example of every English architectural period and its known as the "city of dreaming spires", a term coined in reference to the harmonious architecture of Oxford's university buildings. The University of Oxford is the oldest university in the English speaking world. Our walk leads us through the heart of the historic city centre illustrating in itself the history of Oxford and its university and the map in our hand gave us the description of the architecture and traditions of its most famous buildings and institutions. Even though I was not a good student myself or much of a book reader, I felt it was a prolific day spent in Oxford, a city also prominent for its medieval university. Our day ended with some good coffee and we reached back home in London at around 8 in the evening.

It takes between two to three hours to get to Oxford from London. Of course, much depends on your choice of transport. If you are on a shoe-string budget, pick the bus as your preferred mode. There are bus services that take you to Oxford for only a pound if you book early enough, but the service, understandably, is not that great. There are other bus services, of course, and the buses are extremely regular. If you are a student, be sure to produce your ID because it will get you a hefty discount. A more accommodating budget might allow you to take the train, which will get you there faster and have more comfortable seats, but I'll recommend the bus. It allows you to take in the journey and the world outside the window. Where you stay also depends on your budget, and you will have plenty of options. And if you can find a friend of a friend of a friend who lives there, try and convince them to put you up for a couple of days. Otherwise, there is always a good old B&B.

Oxford – the city famous for its university and known as the „city of dreaming spires“ (due to its architecture). The university is amazing. I went to the famous Bodleian Library which was a unique experience. It’s one of the oldest libraries in Europe and also a setting of the Harry Potter Movies. But well…that’s probably almost every nice spot in the UK Oxford is also very green, right next to the uni there are parks where you can hang out with your friends or learn. Additionally, Oxford is like Amsterdam. You see bikes all over the city, it’s incredible – more bikes than cars. So due to this cozy atmosphere – it’s my number 1 city in the UK.

If you've seen the cult dark comedy In Bruges, you know exactly what to expect in this peculiar city. It's a prominent world heritage site according to UNESCO and that automatically makes it a haven for art connoisseurs. It's also called the "Venice of the North" so you can imagine how many new fairytales of your own you can create whilst walking down the cobbled roads to the whitewashed facades of historic churches. Spring is meant for daffodil carpets spread all over the city.Famous for: Beer and art.Things to do: Climb up the 366 stairs of the medieval Belfry Tower. Admire the flemish primitive artworks at Groeninge Museum.Weather in January: Average temperature is 5 degrees celsius. Remains dry, but nippy.Average budget per head for 5 days (excluding flights): Rs. 62,000For more details, read this.Read More

If you've seen the cult dark comedy In Bruges, you know exactly what to expect in this peculiar city. It's a prominent world heritage site according to UNESCO and that automatically makes it a haven for art connoisseurs. It's also called the "Venice of the North" so you can imagine how many new fairytales of your own you can create whilst walking down the cobbled roads to the whitewashed facades of historic churches. Spring is meant for daffodil carpets spread all over the city.Famous for: Beer and art.Things to do: Climb up the 366 stairs of the medieval Belfry Tower. Admire the flemish primitive artworks at Groeninge Museum.Weather in January: Average temperature is 5 degrees celsius. Remains dry, but nippy.Average budget per head for 5 days (excluding flights): Rs. 62,000For more details, read this.

Peter, our driver and guide for the day, greeted us with a smile and we set out on our day long trip. The onward journey was boring, people slept mostly. Peter passed us a packet of home-made honey cookies that he must have brought for himself and which we readily devoured.
I was in love with the first sight of Bruges or ‘Bru-ha’ as Peter called it. A famous movie ‘In Bruges’ was shot here. I haven’t seen the movie before but made sure I did once I got back.
Bruges to me was a representation of Ancient Europe. The place where we got down was a lane that leads to the Bruges Centrum. On both sides of this lane are buildings as old as 15 Th centuries. The Bruges centrum is a very colorful place. Well I don’t know how to write it, what to describe but just that I was awestruck, time stopped for me, it was so beautiful that in the 3rd day of this tour, I decided I have seen enough, what is left to see after this.
There were people sitting on the stairs, group of musicians siting in a corner and making music. This is again something that is true to all European cities, its musicians.
The centrum has an old fort and a historium. A historium is a museum that tells you the history of that place. We took a video tour of the museum in 10E. It was pretty expensive but still we thought of giving it a try. After having spent enough time at the city center and buying collectibles from the shops around we moved towards the famous canal ride of Bruges that more than us Peter was excited about.
n between we sneaked into one of the coffee shops and had the most amazing thing in the world, the Belgian waffle! Yummy is the word.
The ride cost is 17E but left us very happy. Beautiful houses as old as 14th or 15th century were lined up on two sides of the lane. The slow moving boat cruising the canal, the murmur of the boat guide telling stories about the place, the natural beauty around left me spellbound and I never wanted it to get over. But all good things come to an end and so did the canal ride and our stay in Bruges.